


blood on our lips

by crickets



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-06
Updated: 2011-12-06
Packaged: 2017-10-27 01:36:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/290221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crickets/pseuds/crickets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gale returns to District 12.</p>
            </blockquote>





	blood on our lips

Katniss Everdeen never really believed in forever.

Even before the games, just getting through each passing day was a gift in and of itself.

_Gale knows this better than anyone._

-

After everything, after she's back in Twelve with Haymitch and Peeta, she still hunts.

The truth is, it isn't wholly necessary. But it fills her with a sense of calm she only felt in those years before Prim's name was pulled at the reaping.

Out here, she doesn't have to worry that what she hunts will be hunting her too. _Out here_ , she can remember a time when her sister was just waiting for her at home, _alive_ , and full of hope for the future.

Sometimes, on her hikes through the woods, she finds a recent snare and thinks of Gale.

The scent of oranges fills her nostrils, some long-forgotten memory, and she shakes her head and moves on.

Today, however, she can hear the sound of something moving in the brush behind her, and she freezes, her hand reaching for her bow at her back.

_"Hey, Catnip."_

-

"Gale?" Katniss turns and is in his arms in two leaps. He is just as strong, or stronger than she remembers him, and as he wraps his arms around her, she closes her eyes and buries her nose in his neck.

"You're here," she says into his shoulder.

"I'm here," he repeats.

-

Gale builds a fire and they roast fruit and meat using supplies from his pack, making themselves a nice meal -- a kind of simple meal she hasn't had in a long time.

Katniss doesn't ask him about his life in Two. It's not that she doesn't want to know, but Gale is oddly quiet, except when he's talking about hunting, and the truth is that Katniss doesn't want to break whatever spell has been cast over them on this particular day.

If they don't talk about it, it can feel, for just a short while, like nothing has changed between them.

Still, watching Gale's face through the flames of the campfire, she can't help but think of Prim.

She wishes there were some way she could tell him that she no longer blames him, that maybe she never did. The truth is, Prim's blood taints both their hands, for now and forever.

_They all fought._

Whatever the outcome, that much is true.

"Whatcha thinkin', Catnip?" Gale asks, coming over to bring her another plate and kneeling beside her.

Katniss takes the plate, letting her hand rest on his. "Just how much I've missed you," she says. And the truth of those words outweighs the lie.

Gale closes his eyes, bringing his other hand to cup her chin.

He kisses her cheek, the corner of his mouth brushing hers.

Katniss leans into him, lets him hold her for a long time before saying, "I have to go. Peeta will worry."

-

The trek from District Two is a long one, but Gale manages to make it a few times a year, sometimes every other month, if they're lucky.

Katniss begs him to come back with her at night, to stay with her and Peeta, but Gale always refuses. Each day he shares a meal or two at their place, fruits of their hunt, but he sleeps in the woods, in one of the few shelters that was not destroyed during the rebellion, far outside the fence.

_And far from her happy home._

-

He never really says it, but Katniss can tell that Peeta doesn't like it when Gale's around.

She spends too much time away from him, in the woods, with Gale and all their memories.

He's not really the jealous type, but Gale being around does something to him that she hasn't really seen before. Sure, he welcomes him into their home for meals and puts on a friendly face, but there's a tension in his body language that Katniss is sure that Gale can sense as much as she can.

Dinner conversation is usually pleasant, but only usually. Once, Peeta talks about having kids, about starting a family. Gale scoffs and rolls his eyes and in five minutes time, Peeta's crossing the room and his fist is connecting with Gale's strong jawbone.

Katniss puts herself between them, knowing that if he wanted to, Gale could tear Peeta apart.

"Stop it!" she shouts tears stinging the corner of her eyes.

_The door shuts behind Gale with a loud bang._

-

That night, after Peeta is asleep, Katniss pulls on her boots, throws a jacket over her plain, cream-colored nightgown, and heads toward the Meadow.

She finds Gale in the little shack, a fire in the tiny fireplace, his knuckles bloody from where he most likely abused a tree.

She takes her hands in his and kisses them, traces of his blood smearing her lips before she takes a rag from the table, wets it with his canteen, and cleans him up.

Gale doesn't say a single word the entire time, just lets her take care of him.

After a while, Katniss gets up to leave, and she can feel Gale following, his chest at her back, his warmth radiating over her.

She stops at the door and says his name, taking a tiny step back, just enough to push her body against his. He turns her then, hands firm but somehow gentle, crushing his mouth to hers as she steps back against the door.

He's already hard, she can tell, and they slide down the length of the door, tearing at each other, not even making it to Gale's modest pallet at the corner of the room.

They fuck, there on the dirt floor in the firelight, Gale's trouser's pulled down just enough to expose his ass, Katniss still wearing her boots, the only words uttered coming out in halves, muffled by kisses and moans.

She stays until morning, letting him take her, begging him to take her, as long as they both have enough energy, afraid that in the morning he will have disappeared, never to return to her again.

-

When she wakes, Katniss is draped across Gale's naked body, shy wisps of light peeking out from below the door.

She leaves him a note, manages to dress herself, and walks home in the daylight.

-

Peeta sits at the kitchen table, his jaw set, a cup of coffee half empty already.

Katniss can't bring herself to meet his gaze.

-

Two months later, Katniss enters the woods, and she swears she can smell oranges.

Her eyes find the chimney-smoke in the sky easily.

His name pounds in her head.

 _Gale_.

She hikes her pack up onto her shoulders more securely, and breaks into a run.

_-fin_


End file.
